Here’s a nice list of tools for those who want more out of YouTube.

“I remember clearly after fumbling around life for a few weeks that I dragged myself into the bathroom to get ready for work. I was tired because I was up until close to 2 AM raiding. Every week I read though email or I would run into one of my “real” friends and I’d hear “Andy, what’s up, I haven’t seen you in a while.” I looked in the mirror and in a cinemaesque turn of events and a biblical moment of clarity, told myself “I haven’t seen me in a while either.”

Having played Dark Age of Camelot for two years, I can relate to some of this guy’s account of his WoW addiction. I got to the point where I didn’t feel good about myself after I’d play DAoC for hours on end. Just like the author, I think I too gained 30 lbs over the time I played the game. The best feeling came the day I logged into the game, gave aways all my gold and deleted my character from the server. I’ve almost got pulled into WoW a number of times, even bought the game twice, but I just won’t do it. These type of games leave me feeling depressed and they never amount to anything substantial. I need to spend less time at my computer, not more and installing a MMORPG isn’t a solution to spending less time.

I love this older footage of the Who performing Substitute. They have such energy and Keith Moon on the drums….he looks so proper but he’s just awesome. Pure talent.

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Arrogant Sony and their overpriced PS3 are about to get schooled by Nintendo, according to this article. I can only hope they are correct. How arrogant and pompous does a company have to be to say, “The next generation doesn’t start until we say it does”? Here’s hoping the PS3 is DOA. Nintendo, on the other hand, is on a roll, and I can only imagine the Wii will continue the momentum.

I finally made the jump to Firefox 2.0 last week. So far it’s been smooth sailing. A few of my extensions didn’t work or didn’t have a 2.0 update. But no worries. There are enough extensions now that finding a replacement was quite easy. Here’s a list of the extensions I’m currently running on Firefox 2.0:

• Cute Menus – Adds icons to all your menu items
• DownloadThemAll – Mass downloader
• Forecast Fox – Display weather forecast in your Firefox status bar
• FoxyTunes – Control nearly any media player from Firefox status bar
• IE Tab – You may never intentionally launch IE again
• Mouse Gestures – Navigate by dragging your mouse around the screen.
• NewTabURL – Select default URL when new tab is opened
• PDF Download – Gives you options when PDF file is clicked
• Print Page Preview – Adds print preview to Firefox
• Stylish – Uses CSS to change the look of sites you specify
• UI Tweaker – Tweak Firefox to your delight. Want to get rid of Google Search bar?

I’m around technology probably 12-16 hours a day. I spend most of my day in meetings, interviews, planning sessions and meeting with clients. The rest of the time is spent on email and catching up on technology news. It’s easy for me to believe that the world revolves around technology. But it doesn’t.

As I tucked my five year old daughter, Luca, in bed this evening she said, “Dad, will you lay by me and while I read this book?”. Since she just started kindergarten I figured she would just flip through the pages and show me the pictures. But she picked up the book, “Bears in the Night” and read it word for word. I grinned ear to ear.

I kissed her forehead, pulled up the covers just so, and left her room the happiest dad in the world. Kids have a way of simplifying this complex and sometimes confusing life.

From Lifehacker comes this useful tip for finding open mp3 directories. Type the following string into Google replacing Pink Floyd with whatever band or song you’re after.

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” +”last modified” +”parent directory” +description +size +(wma|mp3) “Pink Floyd”

Newsweek: Microsoft has announced its new iPod competitor, Zune. It says that this device is all about building communities. Are you worried?

Jobs: In a word, no. I’ve seen the demonstrations on the Internet about how you can find another person using a Zune and give them a song they can play three times. It takes forever. By the time you’ve gone through all that, the girl’s got up and left! You’re much better off to take one of your earbuds out and put it in her ear. Then you’re connected with about two feet of headphone cable.

Link to full interview
Link to Newsweek article on the “Power of iPod”
Link to MSNBC article: iPod vs. Zune: The 5 year war begins

Have you noticed some of the strange concoctions that have found a home on the menu of Taco Time and Taco Bell? Seems like each time I go there for a new shredded beef taco salad (not available at all Taco Time restaurants) I see some strange new item I’ve never heard of nor can I pronounce.

The “Pizza Crepe Taco Pancake Chili Bag” from this SNL skit can’t be far away.
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I got my hands on a Zune yesterday thanks to some friends at Microsoft who showed me the device and how it worked with audio and video content. The first thing I noticed about the Zune was its gorgeous screen. It’s considerably larger than the screen on my iPod video, especially in landscape mode. I suspect that at $249 it will really take a bite out of the current portable video player market served by iRiver, Creative and Archos. Another thing I noticed was how much Microsoft has tried to make iPod owners feel at home with the smooth and curvy edges. In the hand, it feels like an iPod video but thicker and a bit longer. The navigation “wheel” works well but isn’t as intuitive as the iPod. It was easier to select a single song or video within a small list, but wasn’t as quick moving down a larger list of the same. The iPod is great in getting into the neighborhood of the song I want from within a long list but selecting the exact song still takes a bit of thumb finesse that I can’t seem to pull off consistently.

Will the Zune steal market share from Apple’s iPod? I don’t think it will. The wireless sharing of songs sounds like a cool feature but will only work if your friends also own one. All my friends (with the exception of one who owns the ghetto iRiver) have iPods. I guess for the kid who wants to be different maybe the Zune will fill the bill. But I don’t see it making much of a splash because it doesn’t do anything a lot more compelling than what the iPod can do and it’s not as easy to use. But I have to admit that I was quite impressed with the device. For a first gen product it feels quite polished and Microsoft is smart to price it competitively. Maybe it will appeal to the Microsoft fanboys or those who are sick and tired of the ubiquitous iPod.
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